1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a business card holder for organizing and storing business cards in a storage and retrieval system.
2. Background Discussion
Business card holders for use in standard storage and retrieval systems are well known. One commercial version comprises a transparent, rectangular plastic sleeve or envelope with opposed open ends through which a business card is inserted into the interior of the envelope. The bottom edge of the plastic envelope has mounting cutouts that enable the envelope to be removably attached to guide rails of a card storage and retrieval system. With the envelopes arranged in alphabetical order, the guide rails maintain this alphabetical organization. Such plastic envelope business card holders are difficult to manipulate, and it is awkward to insert or remove the business card from such plastic envelopes. Nor can the plastic be easily written or printed upon, for example, for advertising or color coding purposes. Rolodex Corporation makes such a business card holder.
The plastic envelope business card holder was developed because a standard paper file card with mounting cutouts along its bottom edge was not particularly suited to allow a business card to be easily mounted thereon and later removed, if desired. Many people nevertheless still use paper file cards for this purpose by simply stapling or taping a business card to the paper file card and then placing this assembly in a storage and retrieval system. This practice results in a clutter looking arrangement of business cards in the conventional storage and retrieval system, and the business cards are frequently damaged. Moreover, once attached to a paper file card in this manner, it is inconvenient to remove the business card.
Conventional storage and retrieval systems for business card holders are ordinarily injection molded plastic and frequently have the guide rails exposed to view. Such plastic storage and retrieval systems are not accepted by many users who desire a mounting device which has an appearance similar to wood office furniture. Without mounting the business card on a holder, some users simply store business cards in an attractive wooden box that is displayed on their desk tops or credenzas. Such wooden boxes, however, lack the guide rails for business card holders. It would be highly desirable to provide an attractive wooden box with guide rails for business card holders displaying business cards that are stored and organized alphabetically. The problem is that such wooden boxes with guide rails are expensive to manufacture.
The ideal card holder would be simple and inexpensive to manufacture at high volumes of production, be readily printed upon, and be easy to use. The card holder of this invention provides such advantages and has several features, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this invention as expressed by the claims which follow, its more prominent features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled, xe2x80x9cDETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS,xe2x80x9d one will understand how the features of this invention provide its benefits, which include low cost, high volume manufacture with the ability to be printed upon during production, convenience and ease of use, and the capacity to hold business cards of various sizes.
The first feature of this invention is that it removably holds a single business card within a card storage and retrieval system. The business card holder of this invention has this capability because of its unique structure which captures and holds the business card. This structure includes a thin, but stiff, rectangular sheet with openings positioned to allow a business card to be removably attached to the holder by inserting the corners of the business card in the openings. There is at least one, preferably two, standard mounting cutouts along the lower edge of the holder for attaching the card holder to the guide rails of the storage and retrieval system.
The second feature of this invention is that the holder has an outer longitudinal top edge, a pair of opposed outer side edges, and a outer bottom longitudinal edge of standard dimensions which enable the card holder of this invention to be mounted in standard card storage and retrieval systems,. Specifically, the holder has a width of 4 inches and a height between 2.5 and 2.70 inches. This provides the card holder with outside dimensions greater than the, dimensions of the vast majority of business cards presently in use, yet enables it to be attached to a standard storage and retrieval system.
The third feature of this invention is that the sheet has a planar surface, a rectangular area displaced parallel to the planar surface a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the business card, and a marginal frame surrounding the rectangular area. The rectangular area has dimensions corresponding to the dimensions of a standard business card. The distance between the outer longitudinal edge and the displaced rectangular area is from {fraction (3/32)} to xe2x85x9 of an inch, the distance between each of the outer side edges and the displaced rectangular area is from xe2x85x9 to {fraction (7/16)} inch, and the distance between the outer longitudinal bottom edge and the displaced rectangular area is between xc2xd and ⅝ inch.
The fourth feature of this invention is that a hole is at each corner of the rectangular area. By inserting one corner of the business card into each hole, the business card is held generally within the rectangular area with a printed surface of the business card lying approximately in the planar surface and facing outward. Each hole is formed by a straight cut in the sheet oriented at approximately 45 degrees to a side edge. A portion of the rectangular area adjacent the cut is removed to allow the corners of the business card to be more easily inserted into the holes. Preferably, each hole is in the form of a segment of a circle.
The fifth, and optimal, feature of this invention is that the holder is designed to accommodate business cards of different sizes. To achieve this there are slits extending from the holes. This enables the card holder to receive business cards of different sizes. If the business card is larger than the standard size, its edges are slipped into the slits. Preferably, there are one or more slits at each hole to accommodate business cards having dimensions greater than the dimensions of a standard business card. Specifically, there is a first slit which parallels an adjacent side edge of the sheet and extends from the cut a distance of from {fraction (1/16)} to {fraction (3/16)} inch and terminates at a second slit. The second slit extends from the end of the first slit at an angle of from 40 to 50 degrees outward towards the adjacent side edge. The second slit has a length of an {fraction (1/16)} to {fraction (3/16)} inch. The holes adjacent the bottom longitudinal edge of the sheet each have a third slit which parallels the bottom longitudinal edge and extends a distance of from {fraction (1/16)} to {fraction (3/16)} inch from the end of the cut and terminates at a forth slit. The forth slit extends from the end of the third slit at an angle of from 40 to 50 degrees outward towards the bottom longitudinal edge a distance of from {fraction (1/16)} to {fraction (3/16)} inch. The first and third slits extend along the perimeter of the displaced rectangular area.
The sixth feature is that the business card holder is manufacture from a continuous web of sheet material using a rotary die to form the holder by continuously feeding the sheet material through the die. The rotary die has a first stage where the corners holes are formed, a second stage where the sheet material is debossed to form the displaced rectangular area, and a third stage where the outer perimeter of the holder sheet is formed. The corner holes are formed by cutting through the sheet which produces waste material, and the waste material may be removed using a vacuum die or a pressure die. The pressure die simply applies a stream of high velocity air against a cut segment corresponding to the hole to blow this cut segment away from the body of the sheet material. Optionally, the marginal frame surrounding the rectangular area is printed upon during manufacture of the holder.
This invention also includes a novel card storage and retrieval system, a novel three stage rotary die for making the business card holder, a method for storing and retrieving business cards using the the business card holder, and a process for making the business card holder.
The method for storing and retrieving business cards, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a card storage and retrieval system including a mounting device with at least one guide rail to which a business card holder is removably attached,
(b) providing a business card holder for mounting thereon a single business card, said business card holder comprising
a thin, generally rectangular sheet having outside dimensions greater than the business card,
a rectangular area on the sheet having dimensions corresponding to the dimensions of the business card and defining the location where the business card is to be held on the sheet, said area having at each corner a hole for inserting one corner of the business card;
said rectangular area being displaced inward parallel to the surface of the sheet by an amount approximately equal to the thickness of the business card;
a marginal frame surrounding said rectangular area; and
at least one mounting cutout in the thin sheet for attaching the card holder to the guide rail of the card storage and retrieval system,
(c) removably mounting the business card to the business card holder by inserting each corner of the business card in one of the holes in the holder to position the business card within the displaced rectangular area, and
(d) attaching the assembly of the business card and holder to the guide rail by aligning the mounting cutout with the rail pushing the holder against the rail.
The process for making the business card holder includes the steps of
(a) continually advancing sheet material along a predetermined path first past a station at which the holes are formed,
(b) next continually advancing sheet material exiting the first station from along a predetermined path to a second station at which the displaced rectangular area is formed with the holes in the corners of the rectangular area,
(c) lastly continually advancing sheet material exiting the second station from along a predetermined path to a third station at which bordering sheet material is severed from the sheet material to form said holder, including at least one mounting cutout for attaching the card holder to a guide rail of the card storage and retrieval system.